As some MSPmentor readers know, my hard drive failed on May 3. A few readers have asked me for an update. Specifically, was my cloud-based backup service able to restore my files? Unfortunately, it’s not a simple Yes or No answer. Here’s why… plus an important cloud sales lesson for managed services providers. In short, there’s a simple way to sell SMB online backup and disaster recovery (BDR) services vs. consumer cloud backup services.
The good news: My cloud-based backup service worked as advertised. All of my files and content were safely backed up to the cloud. The bad news: Restoring all of those files, using my home broadband connection, would have required a continuous three-day download. As a workaround, I restored only my email and a few selected files. The online backup company, which competes in the consumer market, is mailing me a CD containing the rest of my data.
There’s an important lesson here for MSPs that are striving to compete with commodity backup and restore services: Backup is important but restore times are even more important. In separate conversations and email exchanges over the past week, both Doyenz and Intronis made that point to me. Plus, some readers are telling me to check out hybrid cloud solutions — which backup data to local appliances as well as off-premises clouds.
The Sales Lesson for MSPs
Here’s a simple suggestion: MSPs should back up 50 gigabytes of sample (non-critical) data to a consumer online backup service. Then, practice a restore with the end-customer present. Show them how long the restore process — over a broadband Internet connection — can take for a mere 50 gigabytes of hard drive data. Now, do some math and show the customer how much longer the restore would take if the process involved 500 gigabytes of data, a terabyte of data and so on.
Bottom line: Based on my anecdotal experience last week I suspect most consumer online backup companies can’t restore data fast enough over the Internet for typical small business customers.
By the end of the conversation you should be able to upsell the customer from a consumer online backup service to a true cloud BDR (backup and disaster recovery) service.
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Posted In: Cloud Computing | Sales | Software as a Service and Hardware as a Service
Tags: Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery | Cloud BDR | online backup
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Hi Joe:
Wonderful article, and thank you for writing about your experiences.
At Asigra (we don’t deliver a cloud backup service, we sell our software to MSPs who use it as an ingredient in their cloud backup service) we also counsel MSPs to lower the cost of the service to the customer by aligning the value of data with the cost of protecting it. Simply put, it is tiering of backup data based on type/age and then charging less/more for it. Almost always, customer have about 20-30% of backup data which is “young” (say less than 120 days old), and balance is “older backup data” and the MSP can & should charge different rates. This enables the customer to lower the cost of protecting their data.
Proof Point: In your story, you didn’t bother restoring your older data via WAN, you were OK with a CD in the mail. So the SLA of recoverability was different. But I bet you, that you paid the same dollars to protect both types of data (“critical” and “important”). You coulda if your MSP wass *Powered By Asigra*
Lesson to MSPs: Pricing for cloud backup services is multi-dimensional (volume, age, type) and should be reflected so to the customer in order to **align value of data with the cost of protecting it**.
Best,
Eran
EVP, Asigra Inc.
Eran,
Thanks for sharing those additional business model tips. Too often I think MSPs get caught up in price-per-gig or price-per-user discussions, rather than the tiered approaches you mention. Also, our team looks forward to covering your partner event.
-jp
Very good points! We encourage our customers (www.keepvaultpro.com) to take advantage of our ability to backup simultaneously to a local device and our cloud storage. The local backup provides ‘immediate’ recovery in case of accidental deletion or client hardware failure, while the cloud storage provides disaster recovery. We are also soon rolling out a recovery by mail option; while features like this do cost more, as you say **align value of data with cost**!!
Hi Joe,
You made an excellent point with your statement: “Backup is important but restore times are even more important.” This point is often overlooked until it is too late and people learn the hard way (to learn more about the cost of downtime http://arcserve.com/costofdowntime ). In my opinion, cloud backup is best implemented as a hybrid solution of local backup to disk and then cloud-based for disaster recovery, additional levels of protection, and increased storage capacity. In this way, you would have been able to recover your crashed disk in minutes using a product with bare metal restore and accessing your local disk, such as some MSPs offer using CA ARCserve D2D technology. Local disk also provides you with very fast backup and it provides you with the ability to perform your backups even if your internet connection is unavailable – assuring that your data is protected. In this hybrid model, the cloud would provide you a second location to store your backups for recovery and you would have several recovery options, such as downloading your files, DVD in the mail, or maybe even recovery to a virtual desktop in the cloud if you are traveling and your laptop disappears or is damaged beyond repair.
A hybrid cloud solution also enables MSPs to offer more services to setup custom configurations of on-premise and off-premise public and private clouds, replicate backups and data between these locations and provide automatic failover for application high availability, bringing down the cost of more advanced levels of protection for their customers. MSPs using CA ARCserve technology will have more flexibility and agility to adjust their data protection solutions from both an economic sense of determining the most cost effective and profitable place to store their clients data and of course to meet the needs of their customers’ SLAs, making them the trusted advisor providing these services to their customers.
Hope this helps others to reduce downtime and avoid the pain you experienced.
Regards,
@FrankJablonski
CA ARCserve
Frank,
Thanks for the note. I can’t take credit for the “restore times are more important” statement. Doyenz’s CEO mentioned it to me last week hours before my crash (ironically…).
Side note: We covered the CA ARCserve/Windows Azure announcement on our sister site, Talkin’ Cloud, this morning. And a disclosure: I actually worked for Cheyenne Software/ARCserve way back in 1996 before CA acquired Cheyenne.
-jp
Joe,
At VaultLogix we are also a firm believer in the hybrid cloud approach. Enabling a customer to have local, disk-to-disk backup combined with offsite cloud backup is a great solution for enabling offsite data protection for critical data, but maintaining a local disk backup for quick restores and for additional data that they want a backup for, but is not necessarily worth paying for offsite storage.
The key is enabling that through a single client and Web interface, so it all can be managed by the MSP easily and without needing to manage multiple interfaces. It can also be done cost-effectively for the customer by leveraging their existing available storage (or additional storage sold by the MSP!), whether that be a SAN, NAS, or even a local or USB-attached hard drive.
Finally, the MSP should be sure that their service provider is available 24×7 to support emergency restores, and to facilitate a quick restore, including an ability to overnight large data sets that cannot be restored over an Internet connection fast enough. For SMBs, quick restores from a disaster recovery are a requirement – businesses that go down for multiple days have a high likelihood of being out of business within a year.
We have been touting these differences between business-class backup and consumer backup for years!
Shane Arnold
VaultLogix
Before I drone on, I want to fully disclose I was with Zenith Infotech for 4 years, and now work with a local data center in the Pittsburgh area.
The term Cloud is used a lot and seems to give the impression – send it out into the internet and that’s it, you’re good!
With that said, I submit to you this… ‘Cloud’ doesn’t have to be lost in the ether of the internet.
You can get many, if not all, of these ‘cloud’ advantages through local/regional data centers. Unless of course a specific geographic disperse footprint is required.
For MSPs, it’s likely, you can establish relationships with these entities in your area. Depending on your direction in relation to deploying full cloud services, it’s probably in your best interest to do so anyway.
Should your client have an “oh no” moment, whether 50GB or 1TB, and full offsite is required, it’s within some-sort of striking distance. In this model, YOUR TEAM can readily access that information 24×7.
With the Hybrid model mentioned, this provides you with at least 3 copies of your data: Production, Onsite Backup Device and at your Data Center partner.
Leveraging the local data center, you get all of the advantages of cloud, but it’s still TANGIBLE.
Do you homework though: SAS-70 Type II/SSAE-16?; facility capabilities; access permissions for your team; NDA/Non-Competes; finally, and in my mind, the most important, relationship.
Frank Bauer
I suggest using Iozeta unlimited online back up. Affordable and reliable.
Hi Stanley,
Thanks for the tip. Can you disclose if you’re affiliated with Iozeta? If so, how so? If not how did you come across the company? Thanks,
-jp